Juliana Cherera On Kenyans Linking Her Raila, Joho Photos To IEBC Fallout

Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) Vice-Chairperson, Juliana Whonge Cherera urged Kenyans to desist from uncovering old photos of her in previous positions and linking them to the fallout over the presidential election results.

For two days since the fallout began, Kenyans on social media unleashed past photos of Cherera with Azimio la Umoja One Kenya Coalition party presidential candidate Raila Odinga and Mombasa Governor Hassan Joho.

The pictures, which insinuated Cherera’s closeness to Azimio la Umoja One Kenya coalition party leaders, drew sharp reactions from the Kenya Kwanza alliance team, Azimio's rivals.

To make matters worse, a video did rounds on the internet which compared Cherera's address on Tuesday, August 16 to Raila's parallel address at the Kenyatta International Convention Centre (KICC) and similar sentiments were uttered by both.

Watch the video:

Wadau, from this split video, what have you learnt?#ViralVideos #KenyaDecides2022 pic.twitter.com/pjPkhIAlbs — Viral Tea Kenya (@ViralTeaKe) August 17, 2022

On Wednesday, August 17, she broke her silence on Twitter, affirming her stand and that of three other commissioners with whom they denounced the presidential election results announced by the IEBC Chairperson Wafula Chebukati.

She also noted that the photos of her in previous roles had nothing to do with their sentiments.

"My colleagues and I have indicated irregularities in the Presidential tallying process.

"It is not fair to personalize issues. Photos of me discharging duties in my previous position have nothing to do with the facts we have laid bare," she wrote.

Cherera is yet to respond to the mathematical blunder that caused a frenzy across the country where she claimed that Chebukati gave them a total of 100.01 per cent, meaning that 0.01 per cent was translating to around 142,000 votes.

But multiple fact-checkers across various local media houses, including Viral Tea, had dismissed her findings which actually turned out to be 1,421.3137 votes.

Cherera has over 18 years of experience in Education and Management in the public sector. Before her appointment to the Commission, she worked as Chief Officer Executive in the Strategic Delivery Unit of the Mombasa County Government, under Governor Hassan Joho.

She also worked as a Member of the Mombasa County Emergency Household Relief and Nutrition Support Project Coordination Committee as well as the secretary to the Mombasa County Economic Recovery and Legacy Strategy.

Cherera is also a member of the Kenya Devolution Support Program Committee. The holder of a Master's degree in Education, Leadership and Educational Management from Kenya Methodist University, briefly worked as an Early Childhood Development Education (ECDE) teacher before taking up the county government job.

She works on a full-time basis as a vice chairperson of the Commission and her mandate includes facilitating commissioners to execute their duties at the commission at all times while serving as the deputy to Chebukati. She also chairs the Voter Education, Partnerships and Stakeholders Engagement Committee.